True To Faith

The lead vocalists,Ghulam Sabir and Ghulam Waris,are the sons of yesteryear’s famous singer Azzez Ahammed — the first to perform a qawwali at Royal Albert hall,London. The brothers,who belong to Sikandrabad gharana,are accompanied by a chorus of hand-clapping qawwals singing the refrains,while a harmonium plays in the background to support the melodic improvisations of the singers. A dholak and a tabla are also part of the ensemble.

Despite the commercial and popular appeal of qawwali,the descendants of legendary qawwal Padmabhushan Ustad Haji Altaf Hussain,who had performed through the ages in Nizamuddin Dargah,confine their performances to a spiritual context.

“Maqam,as we call it,is a mystical delight that the listener acquires when the music invokes their spirit. We qawwals interact with the listeners through expression and we intensify our voice and repeat certain evocative phrases such as Ali maula,(Oh God) to create a state of mystical delight,” Ghulam Sabir says.

The qawwals are determined to not let the pure form of qawwali die. “Ramzan advocates us to focus more on spirituality and to refresh oneself through music. We try to follow that advice,” Sadhik Riyas,an elderly qawwal who was earlier a lead singer but now sings the chorus,says.

For these qawwali singers,music is a devotion and a way of life. Ghulam Waris,who has completed his graduation in music from Hindu College,is now determined to pursue it professionally. Speaking about qawwali’s roots,he says,“People usually think qawwali is closely linked to Hindustani music. It does draw its essence from the same pool of ragas and talas in classical music. But it is a unique genre. In qawwali,music and text are fused and text is more important. Qawwals prefer to sing loudly,as opposed to ghazal singers,who sing very softly.”

He adds,“We have unique ragas such as Bihaag Thaad. Only our qawaal group can sing in that raga. This raga can go deep into the listener’s memory.”

However,Waris explains that the traditional qawwali has undergone a tremendous transformation from what it used to be during his father’s time. “Earlier,a qawwali was a purely religious performance. Now,the genre has become commercial. What you find in movies and reality shows are very different from the traditional form. Also,earlier only men and followers of Islam listened to qawwali,but now it has a universal appeal,” Waris says.

He explains why the art form has become commercialised over the years. “Qawwali has adapted to the changing tastes and choices of listeners. And we also have to do commercial performances as it is difficult to survive only on the donations that the dargah receives. These days,qawwali has greater appeal in India and abroad. We have performed in countries such as Egypt and Russia,and the trips were sponsored by the government.”